Accreditation of professional experience should be the result of demonstrating effective learning and the corresponding acquisition of skills as a result of that experience, and not merely the accreditation of the time during which that professional experience took place.
Professional experience must be appropriate, in terms of learning outcomes and/or competences actually acquired and their level, within the scope of a course unit, a scientific area or a set of them.
The classification must be the result of an effective assessment, carried out using the most appropriate methods for each course and the profile of each student, in order to ensure the authenticity, accuracy, timeliness and fairness of the classifications of the learning outcomes and/or competences actually acquired, credited in the curricular plans.
Without prejudice to others considered more appropriate, the following assessment methods may be used, oriented to the profile of each student and the objectives of the curricular units or scientific areas, which may be exempted by accreditation:
Assessment by examination, with a structure similar to the conventional examinations of curricular units that can be exempted by accreditation, but which is not the most natural or likely form of assessment for the purposes of accreditation;
Written assessment in the form of a test or quiz;
Oral assessment in the form of a questionnaire, with a written summary of the student’s performance in the questions asked;
Assessment based on the completion of a project, an assignment, or a set of assignments;
Assessment based on demonstration and observation in the laboratory, or in other contexts in the “field”;
Assessment through an interview, possibly with a questionnaire, with a written summary of the student’s performance;
Evaluation of the portfolio presented by the student, namely documentation, objects, work, etc., which show or demonstrate the acquisition of the competences that can be credited;
Assessment based on a combination of the above and other assessment methods.
Whichever evaluation methods are used, the following principles are taken into account:
Adequacy, in the sense of guaranteeing the suitability of professional experience, in terms of learning outcomes and/or skills actually acquired, within the scope of a curricular unit, a scientific area or a set of them;
Sufficiency, in the sense of confirming enough breadth and depth, including demonstration of reflection, to accredit the learning outcomes or competences claimed;
Acceptability, in the sense of confirming an adequate correspondence between what is documented/claimed and what is demonstrated, and whether the documentation is valid and reliable;
Authenticity, in the sense of confirming that the learning outcomes or competences are the result of the student’s effort and work;
Timeliness, in order to ensure that the learning outcomes or competences assessed remain current and taught within the scope of the course.
The classifications must take into account the statistical data of the curricular unit(s), scientific area(s), or all of them, where the professional experience is credited, and classifications that are outside the transcript must be duly justified.